Speaker 1: Episode three seventy nine, How to get Affordable quality Versus
Speaker 1: Cheap Quantity.
Speaker 2: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to
Speaker 2: save money, embrace simplicity, and live a real life man.
Speaker 2: Here your hosts Jen and Jill.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen,
Speaker 1: my name is Jill, and today we are recording video
Speaker 1: on this small camera and you will probably never see
Speaker 1: it because it is our first time using this camera.
Speaker 1: But I do not know where to look.
Speaker 3: We are test test testing this and we'll see what happens.
Speaker 1: But this is such an important episode. This is really
Speaker 1: affordable quality over cheap quantity is my mantra this year
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty four. I want to pursue quality. I
Speaker 1: want to buy less and I want to buy much better.
Speaker 3: Yes, when you said this at the beginning of twenty
Speaker 3: twenty four, I got goosebumps. And this is really your episode.
Speaker 3: But I am fully bought in and I love the
Speaker 3: affordable quality versus cheap quantity because there is a difference,
Speaker 3: I think, between just quality versus quantity, but there can
Speaker 3: be affordable ways of getting that too, So this, I
Speaker 3: feel like, is just almost the foundation of it, but
Speaker 3: episodes from here on out will help to not every episode,
Speaker 3: but as we talk about products and the way that
Speaker 3: we buy and spend, how to keep refining our ability
Speaker 3: to not just get quality but affordable quality, and what
Speaker 3: are the different ways that we can do that, but
Speaker 3: certainly introducing it here, So I'm excited.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we're looking less at brand names and brands and
Speaker 1: high price tags and more at learning about materials, about durability,
Speaker 1: and learning about all the ways to get the real reviews,
Speaker 1: not the paid reviews, and all of that. And this
Speaker 1: episode really does start us down on that journey. So
Speaker 1: if this is something that interests you, then let us know.
Speaker 1: Because this episode is brought to you.
Speaker 3: By the Mega Survey.
Speaker 1: So if you subscribe to our friend Letter, then this
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Speaker 1: But we want to partner with the brands and the
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Speaker 1: to be partnering with, so and that's why we have
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Speaker 1: and all of this. So please, it is a ten
Speaker 1: question survey. It is in your inbox, has been in
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Speaker 3: Who doesn't love answering questions about themselves so you can
Speaker 3: get better curated content for what you want.
Speaker 1: Yes, and we want you to give the answers that
Speaker 1: are like first, top of head, first answer, write it down,
Speaker 1: multiple choice, go, So we don't want it to take
Speaker 1: you a lot of time. And if you don't want
Speaker 1: to hear about this stuff, then we want to know
Speaker 1: that too. But we really really think because when we
Speaker 1: do the polls in the friend letter, one of the
Speaker 1: things that you guys said is you want us to
Speaker 1: partner with more sustainability and eco friendly brands, and those
Speaker 1: tend to have a higher price tex So like, what
Speaker 1: are the brands that are sustainable but are considered affordable
Speaker 1: so we're not just buying luxury for luxury's sake, but
Speaker 1: we're buying for durability sake and for kindness to the earth,
Speaker 1: and so that's something that we learn. And so this
Speaker 1: is kind of what led me down this path. And
Speaker 1: so we're going to cover two articles today. The first
Speaker 1: is going to be a reminder slash reinspiration as to
Speaker 1: why this is such an important mantra for twenty twenty
Speaker 1: four and moving forward. And then the next article are
Speaker 1: some really practical tips for ways that you can find
Speaker 1: these reviews, these different ways to make sure that you're
Speaker 1: buying for durability and quality versus brand or versus just
Speaker 1: cheap price.
Speaker 3: So if you are interested in other episodes that might
Speaker 3: be a similar topic to this, we've got episode three
Speaker 3: seventy two, which is when to buy off brand and
Speaker 3: when to buy name brand. We definitely talked a little
Speaker 3: bit about the quality versus quantity, the brand versus product.
Speaker 3: That was a really fun episode, really tangible, helpful categories
Speaker 3: of when it's worth buying name brand and all the
Speaker 3: other categories where it's not going to matter if you
Speaker 3: get off brand. So that's a helpful one to queue up. Next.
Speaker 3: We've also got episode two ninety six, which is grocery
Speaker 3: saving strategies that will cut your bill in half with
Speaker 3: Gina Zachariah. So that's a really awesome interview. Episode two
Speaker 3: fifty nine Modern Cuponning for beginners. We're not big on
Speaker 3: q ponning, and so this one's definitely how do you
Speaker 3: hack it without needing to spend your whole saturday with
Speaker 3: scissors and paper. I don't even know if that's a
Speaker 3: way to cupon anymore? But what does cuponning look like
Speaker 3: in the current day and age? But just stay with
Speaker 3: us because this is this is an episode unlike an
Speaker 3: episode we've done before, So don't go anywhere.
Speaker 1: Yes, and so this first article is not from like
Speaker 1: a financial website or anything. It's from develop Goodhabits dot
Speaker 1: com and it's ten reasons to choose quality over quantity
Speaker 1: in life. And we're going to relate it back to
Speaker 1: our finance. We're not going to go over all ten,
Speaker 1: but it had some really good things to remember when
Speaker 1: you're having this internal debate, like do I spend more
Speaker 1: for the quality item? And those internal like scripts that
Speaker 1: say I can't afford to spend more? To really combat
Speaker 1: those and inspire you to really choose the right path.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I loved this article. They give ten ten reasons
Speaker 3: why it's better to go quality over quantity, but they
Speaker 3: spend a good amount of time queueing it up and
Speaker 3: explaining what they even mean by that and how that
Speaker 3: can correlate to every aspect of our lives and lifestyles.
Speaker 3: That is really helpful in building an understanding of what
Speaker 3: are we even aiming at. And I love that they
Speaker 3: quote their mother in this article in some of that
Speaker 3: laying the foundation where they heard their own mom's voice
Speaker 3: in their head saying buying cheap is expensive. And I
Speaker 3: think that's a really helpful one liner that kind of
Speaker 3: summarizes what we're saying here that just because you're getting
Speaker 3: a deal, just because something is a low, low price,
Speaker 3: oftentimes what you're getting is truly actually expensive. If it's cheap,
Speaker 3: if it's not well made, if it's not something you
Speaker 3: actually need, if it's not durable, if it doesn't have
Speaker 3: warranties attached to it, that it's it's going to be
Speaker 3: expensive because it's going to cost you to maintain the
Speaker 3: thing in whatever way you've got to hack it, to
Speaker 3: maintain it while it's falling apart, and to replace it.
Speaker 3: That usually when we're buying cheap, not well made, not sustainable,
Speaker 3: we are needing to replace that item more regularly, which
Speaker 3: in the long run is going to cost us more money.
Speaker 3: So that's a really helpful foundational concept that buying cheap
Speaker 3: is expensive and if we can remind ourselves of this,
Speaker 3: I think will do well.
Speaker 1: Yes, And so he starts out by saying, like, what
Speaker 1: is quality over quantity? After he you know, shares the
Speaker 1: wisdom of his mother. So quality over quantity, and the
Speaker 1: way we're defining it is it's used to explain that
Speaker 1: you should invest and choose quality things, people, experiences and
Speaker 1: more that are of a high standard and well made
Speaker 1: I think, not necessarily well made for people, right, but yes,
Speaker 1: you get it, well made friendships, yes, So choose things
Speaker 1: that will last, that are valuable, and things that matter.
Speaker 1: Don't choose quantity, which is focusing on the number, size,
Speaker 1: or amount of things, people or experiences you can acquire.
Speaker 1: And this is so hard for us because we have
Speaker 1: been conditioned our entire lives, and our parents have been
Speaker 1: conditioned their entire lives, and even some people's grandparents. We
Speaker 1: have definitely been conditioned to want more. We are of
Speaker 1: more value the more we have, we are smarter. The
Speaker 1: more we want, we're smarter, the more we can acquire.
Speaker 1: So with all of these scripts in our head, running
Speaker 1: our entire lives and our parents' entire lives, it's very
Speaker 1: hard to rewrite that script to say less can be more.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that they say it another way, that
Speaker 3: we want to aim at value over volume. I'm here
Speaker 3: for a literation, so I love that too. And again,
Speaker 3: in your community, the people that you're investing in in
Speaker 3: food products and experiences, where we can find value over volume.
Speaker 3: It's not about how any followers you have, It's about
Speaker 3: how rich your small community is in the relationships that
Speaker 3: you're having and the products and experiences.
Speaker 1: So I am going to start out with number one,
Speaker 1: and of course that is it saves you money. It's
Speaker 1: expensive to buy cheap, and my whole life, my parents
Speaker 1: would always buy the cheapest thing, and we didn't have
Speaker 1: a lot of money, so it made sense like we
Speaker 1: were not the people that lived outside of our means
Speaker 1: and got into debt. Our family definitely lived within their means,
Speaker 1: the very limited means, and so that means we did
Speaker 1: not do a lot of things. But for some reason
Speaker 1: we had a lot of stuff because we always bought
Speaker 1: the cheapest of everything, and it was always poor quality.
Speaker 1: It always wore out after two or three years. And
Speaker 1: this is just the way things weren't my entire life,
Speaker 1: and so in adulthood I got really sick of it,
Speaker 1: but I could not. I still sometimes battle this idea
Speaker 1: that because I'm not a millionaire, because I don't have
Speaker 1: a multi six figure income like a lot of people
Speaker 1: are saying they do online, I can't afford the highest quality.
Speaker 1: And I'm really good at research. I'm really good at finding,
Speaker 1: you know, the durability and the reviews on things. But
Speaker 1: I've always been like a middle of the road type person.
Speaker 1: Even when I'm buying second hand, I won't even like
Speaker 1: buy the better quality secondhand. I've always been a very
Speaker 1: like middle of the road person because of my upbringing.
Speaker 1: And so that is one of the reasons, like I'm
Speaker 1: sticking to this mantra this year of affordable quality, because
Speaker 1: even being middle of the road has cost me money.
Speaker 1: Like I will get all of these fast fashion things secondhand,
Speaker 1: and they still last about as long as if I'd
Speaker 1: got them first hand, you know, So like just making
Speaker 1: these like little shifts and knowing that when I buy quality,
Speaker 1: I'm not just being a good steward of my money resources,
Speaker 1: I'm being a good steward of environmental resources and time resources,
Speaker 1: which we will talk about later about not having to
Speaker 1: buy as often, not having to rethink my wardrobe as
Speaker 1: often acquiring new pieces all the time because that's not
Speaker 1: something I really value. So yeah, saving money in the
Speaker 1: long run is a big reason that I want to
Speaker 1: buy quality. And the thing is is when I buy
Speaker 1: these things and they do not work properly or do
Speaker 1: not you know, are not as durable as they should be,
Speaker 1: I don't use them either because it's just more of
Speaker 1: a hassle, so I don't even get the full use
Speaker 1: out of it. So like if I get something, I
Speaker 1: want to be able to run that thing into the
Speaker 1: ground and it's still work.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yep. And that one ties into reason number three,
Speaker 3: which is buying quality over quantity can be a time
Speaker 3: and energy saver. Now with the caveat that it is
Speaker 3: going to take some investment of time and energy to
Speaker 3: research items and find what is actually quality, not just quantity,
Speaker 3: what is long term durable and not just short term cheap.
Speaker 3: It'll help me solve a problem now, but not in
Speaker 3: the long run. That's going to take some time. But
Speaker 3: once you settle on whatever it is, the product, the experience,
Speaker 3: whatever it is that you're spending money on, you will
Speaker 3: save time and energy in the long run. So it's
Speaker 3: kind of some of that implementation of future thinking and
Speaker 3: investing in yourself for the long term because you won't
Speaker 3: be needing to replace them those items as often. And
Speaker 3: what this can also lead to is fewer items that
Speaker 3: when you are being this intentional with what you're buying
Speaker 3: and how you're solving problems and the products that you're
Speaker 3: using to solve those problems, very often, it means you
Speaker 3: have less things because now you don't need to buy
Speaker 3: the five other cheap products that actually help make that
Speaker 3: one thing work. And so then you've got just fewer
Speaker 3: items to think about to clean, to dust, to maintain,
Speaker 3: because you've got one really quality thing that works. I'm
Speaker 3: thinking about my knives. I'm always thinking about my knives
Speaker 3: with that one that I invested in a few very
Speaker 3: good knives that lasted me for years and years, and
Speaker 3: I didn't have as many that I had to think about.
Speaker 3: I didn't have them clanging around in the drawer. None
Speaker 3: of them are really working, and I'm frustrated every time
Speaker 3: I'm cooking I had less they worked, and it then
Speaker 3: took up zero mental space in my mind of none
Speaker 3: of this works every time I go to use it,
Speaker 3: which is something I'm using pretty regularly.
Speaker 1: So those types of items knives are definitely something I
Speaker 1: want to do a deep dive on in the run letter,
Speaker 1: just like as like just like pans, and I do
Speaker 1: want to do pots as well.
Speaker 3: Perfect.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's the kind of friend letter content we're going
Speaker 1: to be doing this year is like how do I
Speaker 1: what are how do I get over the like Instagram
Speaker 1: famous brands that will that won't last two years but
Speaker 1: were just like, you know, really heavy into marketing, and
Speaker 1: how do we pick the materials that are going to
Speaker 1: last even if it's not like all clad. But what
Speaker 1: you were saying is the less is the reason I
Speaker 1: went with my next one number five, less stress and
Speaker 1: more simplicity, because I have a habit of not thinking
Speaker 1: I deserve. Then if I want something like say I
Speaker 1: want a really nice automatic espresso maker. That was like
Speaker 1: one thing that I really wanted and was like, no,
Speaker 1: I should really figure out a way to get something cheaper,
Speaker 1: finagle something, And so I bought several things in order
Speaker 1: to be to make myself happy to make coffee at home,
Speaker 1: and eventually did like settle on my my ninja coffee maker,
Speaker 1: but ultimately wish that I had just gotten the more expensive,
Speaker 1: fancy thing because this is something that I really care about.
Speaker 1: And so that's another reason, like if we don't believe
Speaker 1: we deserve or don't believe we should pay more for
Speaker 1: something that we really really want because we're quote unquote frugal,
Speaker 1: that's not frugality, that's deprivation. And we don't do deprivation,
Speaker 1: do we out here? We'd make conscious and intentional spending decisions,
Speaker 1: and we say for the things we truly want, we
Speaker 1: say no to the things that we only have want
Speaker 1: or don't want.
Speaker 3: I will say there's something there's something to be said
Speaker 3: for testing out before you go all in on potentially
Speaker 3: something that is a pretty high ticket item. You can't
Speaker 3: totally find it quality with degrees of affordability, however, we're
Speaker 3: defining that that there could still be space too, Like
Speaker 3: with your coffee maker, try the different things out that
Speaker 3: are going to be less expensive and see if they're
Speaker 3: still meeting the need to really test out the theory
Speaker 3: of would I use it if I spent hundreds of
Speaker 3: dollars more than I just spent. I just did that
Speaker 3: with Eric. He wanted a foot massage, and all these
Speaker 3: foot massagers are like one hundred and fifty dollars, and
Speaker 3: I'm thinking that's one of those things that people get
Speaker 3: for Christmas, they use for a month, they throw them away.
Speaker 3: I'm not spending one hundred and fifty dollars on this,
Speaker 3: but I know he's probably going to want to refine it.
Speaker 3: I know whatever he gets first, it's not exactly gonna
Speaker 3: be the thing, and it'll help him lead him to
Speaker 3: the thing he actually wants. So I just got him
Speaker 3: one off of Facebook Marketplace. Here's your entryway, a good
Speaker 3: one I did research, but thirty bucks on Facebook Marketplace.
Speaker 3: You use it, allow this entry point to refine what
Speaker 3: it is that you do like about it, that you
Speaker 3: don't like about it, then splurg for the next thing.
Speaker 3: So I don't think affordable quality over cheap quantity always
Speaker 3: means we got to immediately jump to the thing that's
Speaker 3: the high tier, even maybe not the highest, but within
Speaker 3: the top three. I think we can ladder approach it
Speaker 3: sometimes depending on how expensive it could become.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that is so true. And I did try a
Speaker 1: bunch of different things, and then I felt guilty for
Speaker 1: like trying different things, but knowing like I was experimenting.
Speaker 1: And now I can tell others to experiment, but go
Speaker 1: in knowing you're experimenting, not thinking like, oh, I have
Speaker 1: to do this because it's less expensive than the thing
Speaker 1: that I really want to do, and knowing if you're
Speaker 1: not using it, it's time to within thirty days, got
Speaker 1: to return it longer than thirty days. Got to sell
Speaker 1: it and use the money to get what you really to.
Speaker 3: Ladder up, Yeah, ladder up. Look at us. We're coming
Speaker 3: on uppless stuff.
Speaker 1: And when you come at it from that point, you
Speaker 1: create less stress because the things you own you actually use.
Speaker 1: It's not just clutter and the feeling of deprivation. And
Speaker 1: there's more simplicity because you own fewer things.
Speaker 3: And you've refined it in your shore of it. I
Speaker 3: think this is one of the things we see often,
Speaker 3: especially in the New Year, is people buy things to
Speaker 3: support the person that they envision they want to become,
Speaker 3: Like I'm going to get all the exercise equipment and
Speaker 3: the really name brand exercise gear and it makes me
Speaker 3: feel like I'm a person who exercises. But just try
Speaker 3: it out with the stuff you already have, get some
Speaker 3: things off of Facebook marketplace, and then determine if you're
Speaker 3: actually going to use the affordable quality long term. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Well, we were on a show the other day and
Speaker 1: we were talking about how people will go and buy
Speaker 1: all this Macrima stuff to learn Macrima to macrimay one
Speaker 1: plant holder, but they won't invest in a cooking class
Speaker 1: to learn how to cook and they eat every day.
Speaker 1: And oh it's right, So we have this like the
Speaker 1: cooking class is too expensive, right, but the Macrimea plant
Speaker 1: holder is too expensive. I can make it myself for cheaper.
Speaker 1: It's too real, right, It's too real. And the girl
Speaker 1: like we said that, and the girl who was interviewing us,
Speaker 1: she's like calligraphy. When I was getting married, bought all
Speaker 1: the calligraphy stuff in order to do my own calligraphy.
Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, yeah yeah, could it do it?
Speaker 1: Yeah, practiced it.
Speaker 3: So like that's just spending a ton of money on
Speaker 3: quality is not always the best way.
Speaker 1: When it's laddering, you have to start small right when
Speaker 1: you're trying to get to knowing if I'll actually use
Speaker 1: this affordable quality product. Yeah, you have to. You have
Speaker 1: to ladder it. You can't just jump straight in, like
Speaker 1: do you know, get one pen and one sheet of
Speaker 1: paper and see if a calligraphy is something ever in your.
Speaker 3: Realm, because we don't want to be wasteful in this
Speaker 3: process either. And that leads to number six that when
Speaker 3: we do purchase affordable quality, we're supporting sustainable efforts. That
Speaker 3: when you are seeking to buy things that are going
Speaker 3: to last long term, then you are contributing to a
Speaker 3: more eco friendly way of spending and living and behaving.
Speaker 3: When you're spending fewer, when you are buying fewer replacements
Speaker 3: for things, it's less of an environmental burden compared to
Speaker 3: some of the low quality items that we're throwing away.
Speaker 3: We're purchasing new. So the impact of us thinking through
Speaker 3: all of our purchases and making sure that we're getting
Speaker 3: the quality and sustainability and not buying as often, but
Speaker 3: also making sure that it is something that we want
Speaker 3: and that's going to link into this values based spending
Speaker 3: idea that we're not just well, now, I gotta buy
Speaker 3: quality so here you go. I'm spending all the money
Speaker 3: on all this stuff. Well, that might not be sustainable either.
Speaker 3: We have to pair all of these principles together when
Speaker 3: we're making these decisions.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think so, like so often we think that
Speaker 1: we're being sustainable by buying secondhand, but so much of
Speaker 1: it and we know if you like participate in our
Speaker 1: nose ben January, like, resisting the urge to thrift or
Speaker 1: resisting the urge to yard sale is so difficult. And
Speaker 1: I know for me, I go straight to the Goodwill
Speaker 1: or the Sunshine, and everything in there is fast fashion rejects.
Speaker 1: And so I really am am going to make this
Speaker 1: the year that when I shop secondhand, I'm going straight
Speaker 1: to those sustainable and durable brands. So I'm not going
Speaker 1: to them first hand, I'm going to them secondhand. Yeah. So,
Speaker 1: and then the last one for me is number eight.
Speaker 1: It improves your relationships and interactions, And so this one
Speaker 1: I really I really like. So he says quality versus
Speaker 1: quantity also improves your relationships and interactions. When you don't
Speaker 1: have one thousand and one friends, you can develop more
Speaker 1: meaningful and deeper connections. I don't know who has the
Speaker 1: problem of having one thousand and one friends. But this
Speaker 1: is encouraging if you only have two or three authentic friends,
Speaker 1: knowing that there's nothing wrong with you, but also kind
Speaker 1: of committing you to continue to invest in those relationships
Speaker 1: because those are really important relationships and fostering quality, valuable,
Speaker 1: lasting relationships a that's what we really want, right, That's
Speaker 1: why we are pursuing financial freedom and financial security so
Speaker 1: that we have more time control to have time to
Speaker 1: foster these relationships.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 1: This is one of the things that money can't buy,
Speaker 1: but requires money to have and maintain. So I think
Speaker 1: focusing this mindset focused on money and consumption bleeds into
Speaker 1: all these other areas. It's with health and fitness too,
Speaker 1: choosing instead of I got friends doing hard seventy five
Speaker 1: seventy five hard? Have you heard of that too? No?
Speaker 3: No, but that sounds sounds not great.
Speaker 1: It's the worst, working out twice a day on some
Speaker 1: kind of diet, reading twenty pages of a book.
Speaker 3: Everything like the most for some then it's going to
Speaker 3: be a hard stop or crash at day seventy six.
Speaker 1: So like when you are fostering quality over quantity in
Speaker 1: your health and fitness, it's more sustainable.
Speaker 3: Yes, ma'am, Yeah, yes, it is.
Speaker 1: So, They're just this idea is going while we focus
Speaker 1: on one thing at a time, right, that's our like
Speaker 1: big thing. Don't focus, don't try to change everything in
Speaker 1: your life all at once. Focus on one thing at
Speaker 1: a time, and this one thing, if you do it
Speaker 1: right and do it consistently, will naturally bleed into other things.
Speaker 3: Yeah. The last one for me is that it reminds
Speaker 3: us to be grateful and it can support our own
Speaker 3: fostering of gratitude. That when we are focused on buying
Speaker 3: quality and usually then leading to less less we have
Speaker 3: to purchase less, we have to research less, we're spending
Speaker 3: time on buying things and more on the things that
Speaker 3: are actually valuable to us. It's going to support our
Speaker 3: efforts in contentment and gratitude in an overall sense of
Speaker 3: well being when we're not distracted by the need to
Speaker 3: accumulate and replace and research the next thing we're going
Speaker 3: to purchase. It just is this much more peaceable rhythm
Speaker 3: and lifestyle.
Speaker 1: So our next article is from get Rich Slowly dot
Speaker 1: org and it's how to find the best of both
Speaker 1: worlds quality products without spending a lot of money and
Speaker 1: So I love this one because it is not from
Speaker 1: like a it's not from a bank rate or a
Speaker 1: nerd wallet. This is from j d Roth, who I
Speaker 1: know and really good guy. But this is his experience.
Speaker 1: So this is part This is part of a three
Speaker 1: part discussion on choosing quality over price. So there's you
Speaker 1: know that he has linked to the other parts. But
Speaker 1: the thing that we have that they have identified is
Speaker 1: that the followers of his blog really do want to
Speaker 1: are willing to spend more to get quality, even though
Speaker 1: they're you know, quote unquote frugal people. And so he
Speaker 1: has shared what he does, and then he also at
Speaker 1: the end of the blog post has shared what a
Speaker 1: lot of other people in his community say. So we're
Speaker 1: going to go through a couple of them our favorites.
Speaker 3: So my favorite on here is your clearance and closeouts.
Speaker 3: When you're looking for how do I get the quality
Speaker 3: but not need to pay the high ticket brand new price.
Speaker 3: Quality things can be found more affordably in clearance sections
Speaker 3: at close out sales for stores, or sections like lines
Speaker 3: of products and items. So when you're looking for a
Speaker 3: specific item, whether it's an electronic or even some of
Speaker 3: these typically higher ticket items like appliances. There are clearance
Speaker 3: places that you can go to to find the product
Speaker 3: that you're looking for at a more affordable price. Eric
Speaker 3: and I did this with our appliances. There's a scratch
Speaker 3: in dent spot for all types of appliances. Most places
Speaker 3: have within a thirty minute radius of scratch indent appliance stores,
Speaker 3: so definitely check your area. But we were able to
Speaker 3: get very quality fridge oven that Gen thought was a
Speaker 3: double oven is actually a microwave and an oven. So
Speaker 3: now she comes and works with me in person. Yay.
Speaker 3: So they've got some minor imperfections to them, but it
Speaker 3: doesn't compromise the integrity of the appliance itself. And so
Speaker 3: if you're able to put up with some of these
Speaker 3: minor dens and scratches, you can get the very good,
Speaker 3: long lasting, oftentimes with the warranty still appliance for a
Speaker 3: very affordable price. So that's just an example, but things
Speaker 3: like that. When you're looking for the electronic, a lot
Speaker 3: of places have refurbished options. I know Best Buy has
Speaker 3: that option in their store, and just all over you
Speaker 3: can find these things at a lesser price, and it
Speaker 3: doesn't even have to mean that it was used before.
Speaker 3: I personally don't think there's anything wrong with used. We
Speaker 3: actually got some of our appliances off a Facebook marketplace.
Speaker 3: But checking out clearance, close out sales for some of
Speaker 3: these things that are on your list of what you're
Speaker 3: looking for.
Speaker 1: Yes, my favorite is is two websites that he mentions
Speaker 1: one and then one of his readers mentions the other.
Speaker 1: But the first is Consumer Reports, and so this is
Speaker 1: like the pre eminent website to go to four reviews
Speaker 1: for unbiased, non advertised you will not find the results
Speaker 1: sorted by who, by which appliance is paying the largest
Speaker 1: affiliate link or affiliate commission. Right, that's a lot of
Speaker 1: what you're gonna find on free websites. So Consumer Reports,
Speaker 1: because they are unbiased and not supported by advertising, you
Speaker 1: have to pay for their results. And so this is
Speaker 1: something that we're going to pay for to it's eleven
Speaker 1: bucks a month, okay, or forty bucks a year.
Speaker 3: Rugal Friends is paying and Travis are gonna be Frugal Friends.
Speaker 1: It's a business write off, so the government pays for it. Right,
Speaker 1: So it's like free. We will because we want to
Speaker 1: do this research and have this unbiased, but it's probably
Speaker 1: not the best. I mean, you can pay forty dollars
Speaker 1: a year, but it may not be your best use
Speaker 1: of your money. So where I also go is to Wirecutter.
Speaker 1: So Wirecutter is owned by The New York Times, so
Speaker 1: they are ads supported, affiliate link supported. They still do
Speaker 1: very good unbiased reporting and testing, and they've been doing
Speaker 1: it for a really long time. The thing that I
Speaker 1: avoid is going to websites when I'm searching for the
Speaker 1: best of something. I avoid listening to the websites who
Speaker 1: are clearly just reading the reviews and then reporting on
Speaker 1: the reviews. I want people who know what they're talking about,
Speaker 1: who have studied the product, the mechanisms, all of that.
Speaker 1: I know what they're looking for, and I want those
Speaker 1: people to test because most of the reviews they're either
Speaker 1: going to be super negative because they got a defective something,
Speaker 1: or they're going to be super positive because they just
Speaker 1: got it in shiny new and they love it but
Speaker 1: they haven't used to used it yet. I want, I mean,
Speaker 1: I want there. You can sometimes find a really golden
Speaker 1: review and being like I've used this for a year,
Speaker 1: here is my unbiased review after one year.
Speaker 3: Got a dig for that kind does all.
Speaker 1: That for so, yeah, Wirecutter is the best if you're
Speaker 1: not going to pay a subscription. Consumer Reports is the
Speaker 1: choice for like completely unbiased. So if you're looking to
Speaker 1: make a big, big purchase like home appliances, home renovation,
Speaker 1: stuff like that, then maybe worth paying eleven dollars for
Speaker 1: one month to get all of the information on all
Speaker 1: of the things that you need. They got like over
Speaker 1: nine thousand product reviews, and then it's a lot of
Speaker 1: the month after you've got made all your decisions. But
Speaker 1: that that's.
Speaker 3: I love that my favorite. Next on here. A lot
Speaker 3: of this came from then the readers, the community that
Speaker 3: the authors writing about writing to giving their own tips
Speaker 3: on how they're finding their quality items at an affordable price.
Speaker 3: And that is of course used previously owned to gently
Speaker 3: use eBay, Craigslist, Facebook, Marketplace, and on all of these
Speaker 3: sites you can set up alerts on them that will
Speaker 3: give you a notification when what you're looking for becomes
Speaker 3: available on the site. Now, this is going to be
Speaker 3: strongly tethered to something we also talk about regularly usually
Speaker 3: when we're talking about impulse spending. Is a practice that
Speaker 3: we can be implementing that will help us long term
Speaker 3: in more intentional spending is keeping a running list of
Speaker 3: the things that we want to purchase. It helps us
Speaker 3: to know, when we're finally ready to buy, what are
Speaker 3: the things on my list. It helps to keep it
Speaker 3: from oh, it's on my mind now, so let me
Speaker 3: buy it. It allows you to do something with that
Speaker 3: thought by writing it down, and then it gives you
Speaker 3: time and space to be able to research that item,
Speaker 3: look for it at your best affordable price, and know that, yes,
Speaker 3: this thing I have been wanting for a while. That
Speaker 3: is often my issue is I'll be getting dressed in
Speaker 3: my closet, I'll think about the thing that, oh, I
Speaker 3: need X clothing to kind of finish out and round
Speaker 3: out my wardrobe. But then I get to the store
Speaker 3: and I don't know what that thing is, So then
Speaker 3: I just end up buying something and it's not actually
Speaker 3: the thing that I needed because I couldn't remember it.
Speaker 3: So it has helped me a ton to be able
Speaker 3: to write down, when I'm actually in the moment, this
Speaker 3: is what I'm looking for, and then take my time
Speaker 3: and be patient to find that thing. So I am
Speaker 3: only going to recommend actually setting up alerts for what
Speaker 3: you're looking for when you've made that list of those items,
Speaker 3: not just willy nilly allowing Facebook, Marketplace, craigslisten eBay to
Speaker 3: just often tell you what you could be purchasing from them,
Speaker 3: but something that you know you've been wanting for a while.
Speaker 3: Right now, for Eric and I, we are looking for
Speaker 3: an automan for our living room. We've been looking for
Speaker 3: an automan for months and months, so it is on
Speaker 3: the list. We are able to purchase it when we
Speaker 3: come across the right thing. But that's an example of
Speaker 3: something that we're going to put an alert on the phone,
Speaker 3: tell me when a leather round automan with storage pops
Speaker 3: up available in a twenty mile radius of us, and
Speaker 3: then that's just going to be helpful to be able
Speaker 3: to pounce on the deal as it comes up. It's
Speaker 3: how we've gotten so many furnishings in our place. Eric
Speaker 3: will do that a lot, you know, a platform bed,
Speaker 3: a certain type of oven, you name it. It has
Speaker 3: been really helpful because with these sites, first come, first
Speaker 3: serve is the name of the game. So being able
Speaker 3: to jump on a deal as it comes up, as
Speaker 3: long as the deal is something that you need, then
Speaker 3: that function can be really helpful.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and the last one for me is not on
Speaker 1: this list, but I'd like to contribute my own contribution suggestion,
Speaker 1: and that is using Benny. So we love Benny and
Speaker 1: we are hope, we are hoping we're not sponsored by them,
Speaker 1: but we are hoping the work partnership with Benny because
Speaker 1: we love it. It is a Google Chrome extension and
Speaker 1: you put like you click on like Everlaine is a brand,
Speaker 1: an affordable sustainable clothing brand that I'm looking into. So
Speaker 1: I go to the Everlaine website and I am looking
Speaker 1: at a T shirt and the Benny Chrome extension pomps
Speaker 1: up and I click on it and it opens up
Speaker 1: the same exact shirt from Everlane and where I can
Speaker 1: get it from thread Up, Poshmark, mercari eBay and really
Speaker 1: like similar other Everlaine shirts or as close as possible.
Speaker 1: So it is a way to find what you're looking
Speaker 1: for firsthand, secondhand on a bunch of different sites. You
Speaker 1: don't have to hunt. So like I'm not a hunter,
Speaker 1: Jill loves the hunt. I hate the hunt. So Benny
Speaker 1: for me has been like a godsend.
Speaker 3: So I mean, but if Benny's gonna help me with
Speaker 3: the hunt, then I am here for it. They are
Speaker 3: a dream chrome extension. Yeah, and I mean go ahead
Speaker 3: and try it for's podcast dot com slash Benny. Maybe
Speaker 3: they've maybe maybe they've come come through for us.
Speaker 1: Yeah, try try that before you just download it.
Speaker 3: B E n I. Yeah, and you know what always
Speaker 3: comes through for us though.
Speaker 1: And will work with us till the end of time.
Speaker 3: The bill of the week.
Speaker 4: That's right, it's time for the best minute of your
Speaker 4: entire week. Maybe a baby was born and his name
Speaker 4: is Williams. Maybe you paid off your mortgage. Maybe your
Speaker 4: car died and you're happy to not have to pay
Speaker 4: that bill anymore. Duck bills, buffalo bills, Bill Clinton, this is.
Speaker 3: The bill of the week.
Speaker 5: Hey, Jan and Jail, this is Victoria from North Carolina.
Speaker 5: My bill of the week this week is an actual
Speaker 5: duck bill, a rubber duck bill. This year, for Christmas,
Speaker 5: my mom and I are taking our kids on their
Speaker 5: very first cruise. And apparently it is a popular trend
Speaker 5: to hide and find ducks around a cruise ship, especially
Speaker 5: rubber ducks. So we have loaded up our ducks and
Speaker 5: we cannot wait to surprise the kids and do something
Speaker 5: so over the top that I never thought I would
Speaker 5: financially be able to do. I've been listening to you
Speaker 5: guys for the past two years and it has completely
Speaker 5: transformed not only my finances, but the way I look
Speaker 5: at my finances from core financial values to buy nothing
Speaker 5: pages to just all the tips and tricks and motivation
Speaker 5: that you guys provide. It has allotted me the opportunity
Speaker 5: to be able to do something big for my kids,
Speaker 5: like take them on a cruise. So I just wanted
Speaker 5: to thank you guys for all the content, the inspiration,
Speaker 5: the motivation.
Speaker 3: Keep it up.
Speaker 5: I love listening to you guys.
Speaker 3: Excuse us while we dry our eyes.
Speaker 1: I love cruises. And yes, the duck thing, the rubber
Speaker 1: duck thing is a thing. People will hide these small
Speaker 1: rubber duckies around the cruise and usually there's a little
Speaker 1: tag like with a little like I don't know, limerick
Speaker 1: or something on it like find a duck, leave a
Speaker 1: duck sort of business. Usually they're wearing a costume, not
Speaker 1: like a fabric costume, but you can buy them pre
Speaker 1: costumed like plastic and it is a fun thing for
Speaker 1: kids to do. So that's really cool. That is really fun.
Speaker 3: Victoria, My goodness, what a great bill. Love that you
Speaker 3: were able to do this with your kids and have
Speaker 3: fun with it, and you had the money to spend
Speaker 3: on this, but also how the community has been helpful
Speaker 3: and the podcast has been helpful. It really does. It's
Speaker 3: so encouraging for us to hear and that all of
Speaker 3: the work you've done and mindsets you've implemented is what
Speaker 3: has allowed you to afford such a valuable experience with
Speaker 3: the money that you've saved, and how you are able
Speaker 3: to spend it and enjoy time with your family. We
Speaker 3: hope it was a blast. That's so very fun. And
Speaker 3: thanks for your bill. If you all listening, want to
Speaker 3: leave us your bill, if it has anything to do
Speaker 3: with encouragement, If you want to make us cry again,
Speaker 3: go for it. If your name is Bill, we love you.
Speaker 3: We love all bills. Now we think you're great. A
Speaker 3: bill you found on the ground, duck bills, you name it,
Speaker 3: keep it vague, keep it interesting, frugal friendspodcast, dot com,
Speaker 3: slash bill, Leave us your bill, and now it's time
Speaker 3: for going around. Poh poh.
Speaker 1: All right, So best example of where paying more has
Speaker 1: saved you more? Jill, No one is surprise.
Speaker 3: No one's surprise. I don't got any new answers for
Speaker 3: you all. I'm so sorry. It's my vitam X. You
Speaker 3: all know it off for a glum mom VitaminX smoothie
Speaker 3: this morning. Yes I did. I have used my vitamins
Speaker 3: except for being on vacation every pretty much every single
Speaker 3: day since November twenty twenty one, and I haven't done
Speaker 3: a single thing to it.
Speaker 1: I thought it was like November twenty twenty. You've had
Speaker 1: that thing for a while.
Speaker 3: I think it was November twenty twenty.
Speaker 1: I think was shortly after you moved in here.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, let's get let's tack another year on it
Speaker 3: since November twenty twenty and listen, h Have I done
Speaker 3: a single thing to it other than clean it?
Speaker 1: Nope?
Speaker 3: Have I needed to replace blades nope? Has anything broken
Speaker 3: on it? Nope?
Speaker 1: Could you put a brick in there and the vitamix
Speaker 1: would turn it into a brick smoothie?
Speaker 3: Nope? How dare you suggest?
Speaker 1: But it is really good blend. You can throw literally
Speaker 1: anything in there.
Speaker 3: It works as good as the day I bought it.
Speaker 3: And speaking of simplicity, because I have the VitaminX, I
Speaker 3: now don't need to also have a food processor, an
Speaker 3: immersion blender, a regular blender, a nut butter blender, like
Speaker 3: a soup blender, whatever, whatever kinds of blenders that are
Speaker 3: out there, and you know they exist. The Vitamix does
Speaker 3: it all. And that's the thing that always annoyed me
Speaker 3: about these other blenders is they try and get you
Speaker 3: with the more is more, like, buy this one thing
Speaker 3: and it comes with seven attachments, and I never wanted that.
Speaker 3: I'm like, I don't have a big kitchen at the time,
Speaker 3: so yeah, it must have been twenty twenty. I'm working
Speaker 3: out of my laundry room. I don't want seven attachments.
Speaker 3: I want one thing that works for all the things
Speaker 3: I wanted to work for, and that is Vitamix folks.
Speaker 3: And I am not sponsored by them, but if they
Speaker 3: want to, I mean, go for don't do that. That's
Speaker 3: not it's never gonna work. Actually, mix come at us.
Speaker 1: So uh for me, it's a jogging stroller. So we
Speaker 1: got not even again middle of the road, but instead
Speaker 1: of getting two strollers, we got for Kai, we got
Speaker 1: a jogging stroller. It goes over every terrain, it's very
Speaker 1: durable and we've used it also with Atlass. Now we
Speaker 1: got a double stroller off Facebook marketplace. That thing is
Speaker 1: the worst. I wish I had just gotten and we
Speaker 1: have borrowed.
Speaker 3: That from you.
Speaker 1: I agree that things the worst, and so I should
Speaker 1: have gotten another jogging stroller, but a double, so I
Speaker 1: might still do that.
Speaker 3: Did you get the jogging stroller off a Facebook marketplace too?
Speaker 1: Nope, because with an infant car seat that we used
Speaker 1: that goes into it. So while that was middle of
Speaker 1: the road of quality, the investment of getting the jogging
Speaker 1: stroller versus just a regular stroller. Yeah, and a jogging
Speaker 1: stroller was the right move for yes.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Oh that's awesome. We didn't say this explicitly in
Speaker 3: the other part of the episodes. I'll say it now.
Speaker 3: One of the things that can be important to look
Speaker 3: out for is if lifetime warranties are offered on your products.
Speaker 3: That can be a helpful metric of whether or not
Speaker 3: I'm going to spend the extra dollars on this item.
Speaker 3: How long does their warranty last for? And of course
Speaker 3: you've got certain brands that have great warranties like LLBean
Speaker 3: and I think Arii has some really good warranties. Specifically,
Speaker 3: to circle back to the vitamins. They offer a ten
Speaker 3: year warranty on their product, and they do say your
Speaker 3: vitamins should last you about ten years. I think depending
Speaker 3: on your care of the item, it could last longer.
Speaker 3: You could then get replacement items. But ten years on
Speaker 3: a block ender, I think is really great.
Speaker 1: Spent items even being offered. That's a good sign.
Speaker 3: Right exactly. Yeah, So those are some helpful ways to
Speaker 3: even know which one should I go with if you're
Speaker 3: kind of between two, which one offers the better warranty,
Speaker 3: and then actually take advantage of the warranty, do the
Speaker 3: extra work of signing, registering your product, signing up for
Speaker 3: the warranty, keeping keeping track of those things in a spreadsheet,
Speaker 3: or however you want to do it, because inevitably something
Speaker 3: will break or need replacement, or you're just going to
Speaker 3: want to refresh on it, and you can take advantage
Speaker 3: of that and not have to throw it away and
Speaker 3: buy new. So yep, there's more of my two cents. Well, everyone,
Speaker 3: thanks for being with us and listening. Many of you
Speaker 3: know that we do have a newsletter called the friend Letter.
Speaker 3: We've been talking about this. It goes out three times
Speaker 3: a week Monday, Wednesday, Friday, we give freebies tips on
Speaker 3: how to spend better, save more. We are going to
Speaker 3: be talking more about how to buy affordable quality over
Speaker 3: cheap quantity. So if this is something you're really into,
Speaker 3: and yeah, you want to know about the good knives,
Speaker 3: the good pots and pans, the good appliances, definitely register
Speaker 3: for that at frigir friendspodcast dot com. But here's a
Speaker 3: sweet reply email that we got recently from m listener.
Speaker 3: That's fun. I love this newsletter. And I was just
Speaker 3: talking to a coworker who's going through kind of a
Speaker 3: hard time. Her and I both had our car stolen recently.
Speaker 3: L Ol, what are the odds? Oh, my goodness, what
Speaker 3: an outlook. Oh I'm glad you can laugh about it.
Speaker 3: But we're both trying to get back on our feet.
Speaker 3: And I told her, you have to let people know
Speaker 3: that you have to think about your financial security moving forward,
Speaker 3: and that you can't buy for all your friends, family members, coworkers,
Speaker 3: anyone that really cares about you is going to understand
Speaker 3: that you need to get yourself in a better financial
Speaker 3: situation for your future and to take care of yourself
Speaker 3: before getting anyone any kind of gift. They would be
Speaker 3: selfish or not understand. So thank you so much for
Speaker 3: you guys bringing these topics up about boundaries and reality
Speaker 3: and following your goals and thinking realistically. This was around
Speaker 3: the holidays, so they said happy holidays. Thank you so much.
Speaker 3: I am so sorry to hear about your car getting stolen,
Speaker 3: especially in those seasons of life when things are just
Speaker 3: not going your way. You've got to be able to
Speaker 3: implement putting on your own oxygen mask when it comes
Speaker 3: to your finances first.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, yeah, thank you, so.
Speaker 3: Thanks for listening. If you want to get this email
Speaker 3: that is inspiring others and helping to spend better, save better,
Speaker 3: find the affordable quality, get yours for free. Frugal Friends
Speaker 3: podcast dot com.
Speaker 1: We look forward to being in your inbox every week
Speaker 1: and we'll see you next time.
Speaker 3: Babe.
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends is produced by Eric Sirianni. So, I think
Speaker 1: the Super bowls this weekend that after we're releasing this,
Speaker 1: this is Super Bowl weekend.
Speaker 3: Okay, what do you want to say about sports? Jen careful,
Speaker 3: I want to say.
Speaker 1: I want to say yesterday, I want to be vulnerable.
Speaker 1: Yesterday somebody we were talking to somebody and they said,
Speaker 1: I'm from Chicago and I said, oh, yeah, the Detroit
Speaker 1: Lions just played.
Speaker 3: You were like, oh, you guys just had a win,
Speaker 3: and she like blank stared, she's like the Detroit Lions.
Speaker 1: And I started out loud. I said, Detroit Lions. Detroit
Speaker 1: and Chicago are two different places.
Speaker 3: Are in two different states.
Speaker 1: But the reason I said it is because my friend
Speaker 1: who's a Detroit Lions fan, like Travis and I were
Speaker 1: talking to the other day on the phone, he lives
Speaker 1: in Chicago and he's a Detroit lionsman. And so immediately
Speaker 1: you made the association that people in Chicago cheer for
Speaker 1: the Detroit Lions.
Speaker 3: And this is what happens when we try and talk
Speaker 3: about sports and we forget geography.
Speaker 1: But I mean there could be people like we have
Speaker 1: the Tampa Bay Bucks, but we live in Saint Petersburg
Speaker 1: and Tampa Bay and Company compasses Saint Petersburg, but it
Speaker 1: is in Tampa. So like there are people in cities
Speaker 1: root for other people.
Speaker 3: But when you just meet someone from Chicago, you can't
Speaker 3: say they had a win yesterday when the Detroit Lions won.
Speaker 1: Okay, I and that's why this is this is vulnerability
Speaker 1: round point two. But I yeah, Chicago does have a
Speaker 1: football team, right, I want.
Speaker 3: To say the Bears. Oh is that basketball? The Bear Bears? Bears. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So I just feel sorry. I'm so sorry, Chicago.
Speaker 3: You didn't have to tell Chicago. It's like, but I
Speaker 3: want to apologize to you for talking badly about you
Speaker 3: behind your back. Well, I otherwise wouldn't have known you
Speaker 3: were doing that.
Speaker 1: So if by some chance the Detroit Lions end up
Speaker 1: in the Super Bowl, go Chicago. Chicago,